From Dark Beginnings (Let Hell Rise Part 1)
by axslayer33
Summary: A new student joins Kadic Academy, and suddenly secrets may not be buried for long. All the while, a dark threat builds... (Chapters completed thus far-1)


Let Hell Rise.

_Author's note-Dialogue is assumed to be French. Quoted Italics represent any other language being spoken aloud. Italics without quotes represent unspoken thoughts._

Prologue

24 guards lined the path leading from the point of entry to the lift. 24. 12 to a row, flanking the path, ready to escort what would come down it. Or destroy it if necessary. In the lift 4 more guards stood erect. All of them were silent, motionless, weapons primed. Topside, twin pieces of heavy artillery guarded the door to the lift, prepared to eliminate intruders...and devastate anything that came out of the lift unauthorized. Above them 2 final sentries and an infantry platoon were positioned. If all went accordingly, they would escort the guest to the start point. If not, they would lay suppressive fire to cover the artillery. It was the general's riskiest, most ambitious and powerful plan yet. The first stage was the most volatile. Each and every troop was ready to give their lives to the halt the mission if the worst occurred. But not yet. For now, they stood silently. Motionlessly. Waiting.

Jeremy stared intently at the screen. Sweat pooled on his brow. "Hmmmmm..." The blonde haired genius was deeply focused on the screen, a puzzling situation before him. The slightest mistake would cost him. There was no room for error, not this time. Not after so long to get here. A few seconds more and he would have it... Just a little patience...

* * *

BANG! BANG! BANG! "Belpois, open up!"

Jeremy, startled, clicked wrong, and sad music suddenly played. "Game Over" appeared over the headless penguin. "Hmmph...I don't know what everyone finds so interesting about this game." he muttered.

"BELPOIS!"

The boy sighed. Closing the game, he trudged over to the door and opened it. "What do you want, Jim? It's Sunday."

Kadic's jack of all trades loomed over him. "Jeremy, I'd like you to meet Ryan Kilsinger, Kadic Academy's newest student. He'll be your roommate temporarily."

Jeremy woke up fast. "Roommate? I was never told I was getting a roommate! Since when?"

Jim scratched his head. "Err...since two weeks ago when we started sending letters. Silly if you ask me, you all live here..."

The genius became flustered. "Bu-bu-bu-bu-but, I-I'm not ready! I don't have another bed! I, uh, need to, umm, clean the room! I-"

Jim held up an arm. "Now Jeremy, I'll hear no excuses. You had two weeks' notice; it's your fault if you forgot. As for the bed, we have a small problem in the storage room, so Ryan will have to make do with a bedroll for now. I trust you'll make him feel welcome?"

"Well sure, I guess, but-"

"That's what I like to hear!" the coach beamed. He slapped the boys on the back and waddled off, humming as he went.

Jeremy steamed. The black haired youth, silent up to now, chuckled. "He always like that?" he inquired.

The blonde boy sighed. "All the time." He opened the dorm door. As the boys went in, Jeremy brightened, if not with fake enthusiasm. "So, where are you from?"

"The States...New York to be exact."

"Really? Your French is excellent!"

Ryan flopped onto the roll. "I've been practicing for a while." He replied vaguely. He looked behind his head, under Jeremy's desk. A silver tube caught his eye. While Jeremy sat at his computer, the American pulled out the shiny thing-a tube of pink lipstick. _Hmph...wonder how that got here..._ he whispered. Pocketing his prize, he sat up. "So, you going to show me around, or what?"

Jeremy spun around in his seat. "Sure. I'll introduce you to some friends of mine...Leave your stuff here."

Ryan jumped up and clapped his hands. "Well alrighty then, let's go!" He smiled as his new host walked past. Before leaving, though, he cast a critical eye on the room, focusing his glare on the computer before shutting the door.

The sun shone brightly upon the grounds of Kadic, and the American's eyes equally shined, absorbing his surroundings, studying everything around him, calculating minute details...

"Oof! Hey, watch it!"

...but not watching in front of him. The irritated greeting came from the guy he walked into. Not one of his finer moments.

"Erm, sorry about that." Ryan muttered. But the offended was still going.

"You must think your some kind of big shot, don'tcha? " The short, acned kid went on a roll, "Just think you can go around walking into people, huh? Who do you think are, you ass?"

Jeremy took a step forward, "Shut up Herv! It was an acci-" but was cut off by Ryan.

The new kid looked at his host. "I got this." He looked back to the instigator.

"Now wait. If you think that I think that I'm a big shot, that must mean you're a bigger man than me, right?"

"Of course!"

"So if I'm an ass, what does that make you?"

The angry youth quickly shouted, "It makes me a bigger ass!"

A cute, short haired brunette snickered, setting off a barrage of laughter. Ryan smircked at the look of shock on Herv's face as the words registered in his head.

He pointed to the fool, "You said it, not me," before walking off.

Herv's face twitched. His eye quivered. Then the rage came back tenfold.

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU! I'LL KNOCK THAT STUPID GRIN TO NEXT WEEK! I'LL DESTROY YOU! AND WHEN I'M DONE WITH THAT, I'LL USE WHAT'S LEFT OF YOU TO DO THE SAME TO STERN! EEEEYAAAAAH!"

The furious boy let out a high pitched war cry and took off full tilt. Ryan put one foot out to the right, and then scooted over to bring himself up straight. The war cry turned into a shout of surprise as Herv flew headlong into the ground. Jeremy and Ryan watched the spitting, cursing meat bag at their feet flail in frustration.

"Sad, isn't?" The new comer observed.

"...Indeed." Jeremy replied uneasily, after a pause.

A new voice drew their attention. "Hey Einstein!" Across the courtyard, a guy who was a walking shock of purple was waving to them. 3 other kids hung around him under a shady tree. Jeremy and Ryan walked over to them. "Who's the new guy?"

The American held out a hand. "Ryan Kilsinger, Jeremy's new roommate. And you are?"

"Odd Della Robia, at your service!" the short kid jumped up, acting like a showman exhibiting the others. "And here we have Ulrich Stern, Yumi Ishiyama, and Aelita Stones!"

Ulrich grinned. "Dude, really? You're embarrassing us."

"You just don't appreciate my finesse and grace." Odd retorted. He turned back to Ryan. "So you're Einstein's roommate, eh? How'd that happen?"

Jeremy shrugged. "I don't know! Jim says they sent letters, but if they had I would of turned it down! Er...no offence."

Ryan shrugged. "None taken. Look at me-I'm sleeping on the floor because the closet the beds were in flooded. Do I look like I care?."

Odd stared. "Erm...about those letters."

Jeremy raised an eyebrow. "What?"

The svelte kid scratched his head. "Hehe, funny thing. You see Kiwi had been tearing up envelopes the other day-some of them may or may not have been addressed to you. When you didn't ask I figured they were garbage."

"What!? Your dumb dog was eating my mail? How could you Odd? What was he even doing in my room!?"

Yumi laughed. "Now Jeremy, I'm sure Kiwi didn't mean it, so calm down-you look like your head's about to explode"

Ulrich pointed across the yard. "Yea, and Herv's already got that covered."

Everyone laughed, and even Ryan joined in.

Later on, Jim whisked Ryan away to show him the "official tour" of Kadic. The Lyoko Warriors hung around the courtyard.

Odd looked over at him. "So Einstein...what are you going to do about him?"

"About who?"

Della Robbia rolled his eyes. "Matthias. Who do you think?"

"Ryan? Well, I don't know. He seems nice."

Aelita piped up. "What I think Odd means is how will you work on Lyoko from your room now that you have someone with you all the time?"

Jeremy sighed. "That's why I panicked when Jim told me that. I guess I can do it when he's not there...and I can use my laptop. There's no need for him to look at that."

Ulrich leaned on the bench. "But what if Xana attacks while you're with him? He's bound to pick up on the fact we keep vanishing. Probably even faster than Sissi."

"I don't know!" the blonde boy threw his arms up in frustration. "I guess we could use returns to the past if he discovers anything major. It's not like we aren't ignoring XANA's power boost already...speaking of which, anyone notice he's been quiet lately?"

Yumi grimaced. "Every time he goes silent he comes back even stronger, usually at the worse time."

The others nodded. "That's what I was afraid of." Jeremy murmured as the clock bell brought them back to reality.

"3:00? Oh my gosh, I got to go pick up Hiroki from a science club!" Yumi exclaimed as she took off. "See you guys later!"

Ulrich sighed. "I got to go too-the drama club needs extra hands setting up rehearsal props."

Odd sighed as Stern walked off, followed by Jeremy and Aelita talking about some project. "...Yea, well...I have things to do, too you know! I got a date!" he called after them. "...Soon as I find someone."

"So, ladies' man on campus is in a rut, is he?"

Odd jumped and spun on his heel. "Eyah! Don't do that! And I'm not in a rut, I just don't have anyone right now."

Ryan laughed. "Rumor has it it's because you still have the last girl's shoe up your behind."

"Not true...and how are you hearing rumors already? You just got here!"

Ryan gazed at some students. "I listen. I found out things. It's amazing what some people will talk about when thy think they're alone."

Odd looked uneasily at the newcomer, who suddenly seemed much stranger than before. And shouldn't he be with Jim? _How long was he standing there?_

The boy smirked. "Now, seeing as you're the ladies' man here, maybe you can id something," he changed the subject and fished out the lipstick. Tossing it to a befuddled Odd, Ryan pointed. "Any idea who that belongs to?"

Odd took one more look at the American, then studied the tube. "Eh, never seen it."

Ryan raised an eyebrow. "Never?"

"Nope. Which means it's either Sissi's, Yumi's or Aelita's. Sissi wears red and Yumi doesn't wear any sooo... It must be Aelita's. Why you asking?"

Ryan cocked a sly grin. "Found it under Jeremy's computer desk."

Odd's jaw dropped. "You found this in Einstein's room?"

Ryan nodded. "Looks like it was dropped and rolled under his desk."

Odd broke into a fit of laughter. "This is amazing! And he has no idea you found it?"

Ryan grinned. "None at all."

Odd was turning blue in the face with laughter. "Oh man, when he finds out he's gonna flip! This is great!" he gasped, wiping a tear from his eye.

"When who finds out what?" a sharp voice cut in.

The two turned to a large headed brunette. Between her abnormally big forhead and a pair of heels she came up to Ryan's shoulder, inching past Odd's own head, but not past the spike.

Ryan glanced at the girl, "None of your business." Odd's eyebrows shot up.

"Oh I think it is." she insisted.

"And just who might you be?" he asked, now giving her a full look of contempt.

"Sissi Delmas, queen of Kadic, 3 time winner of the beauty pageant, star of the campus, daughter of the principal and prettiest girl in the school!" Sissi replied with an air of importance.

"So, in other words, a stuck-up spoiled snooping pain in the neck?" Ryan casually offered. A straight face prevailed as Sissi's turned crimson with rage. Beside them Odd collapsed in a fit, alternating guffaws with gasps for breath

"Oh really? And I guess your God's gift to the world?" she sputtered.

"Ryan Kilsinger, and although I'm far from that, I am very golden. At least I don't have paint on my lips."

Sissi's anger faded, as her eyebrows peaked. "What?"

" Well, as I was telling Odd before you so rudely butted in, earlier Jim and I saw a weird guy running through the dorm halls. I chased the guy, cornered him, Jim grilled him- turns out he was changing Aelita's lipstick with a tube of paint."

"So why do I care what happens to Mrs. Einstein?"

"Well, the guy was from another school-had no reason to have a grudge against her. That, and the box of paint tubes, leads to reason that he was going after all the Kadic girls. The red and pink tubes were missing."

Panic splashed onto Sissi's face. "RED?! But that's my color!" she cried in fear.

"Yup...and your door was open a bit. Jim closed it." Internally Ryan chuckled as the ruse played out so handily

Now true fear filled her eyes, "BUT I JUST PUT IT ON 5 MINUTES AGO!" she screeched.

"I told Jim we should check, but he was too focused on dragging the guy to your father's office...sorry. Hope it isn't dry yet." Ryan shrugged.

"AIEEEE!"

Sissi ran off towards the dorm, clutching her face and wailing. Odd got up off his knees and stared. "Holy cow..." he turned to Ryan. "You, my friend, are a master."

Kilsinger bowed. "Why thank you." As he looked back towards the building, he could still hear the screams. "There goes a girl who deserves all she gets." he sighed.

"Tell me about it. I'm always wanting to get back at her, but all that daft head is good for is buttering up her dad to get us in trouble." Odd bemoaned.

A smirk played on Ryan's lips. "Well...if you're willing to pay..."

Odd raised an eyebrow. "What are you suggesting?"

"€20 and I'll make her week miserable. And no one'll be the wiser." he offered.

Odd grinned evilly. "It's a deal!" he said gleefully, forking over the cash. "You better deliver-that's all I got."

Ryan snickered. "Oh I will. The fun starts tomorrow...oh, by the way-keep the lipstick. You can find a better use for it than me, I'm sure."

Odd slipped the prize in his pocket. "Thanks." He walked off rubbing his hands together. "Oh this is going to be great!" He chortled.

As he watched the svete boy stroll away, Ryan put his hands in his pocket. He studied Odd. He'd made a friend, established himself as a glorious bastard, and made €20. Not bad for the first afternoon. As Odd walked inside the dorm, Ryan took a deep breath. "_Oh indeed, Odd, it will be great._" he uttered quietly in English, the Manhattan accent crisp in his voice.

"_Let the secrets begin._"

* * *

End Chapter 1 of the first in what will hopefully be a multipart series.


End file.
